91视频

Lane County officials are looking for a developer for two acres of county land in the heart of downtown Eugene.

The L-shaped property is spread out over East Sixth Avenue between Pearl and Willamette streets.

“It used to be the county annex where we had the elections division, public health and, most recently, parole and probation,” said David Suchart, Lane County’s facilities planning and construction director. “We moved all of those operations out, and we tore down the building.”

Suchart said he is not sure about the zoning on the property, but is pretty sure it’s reserved for governmental use and will probably remain that way.

In a request for proposals, county officials said they would prefer a “public-private” partnership with a developer while maintaining control over the site for long-term “future governmental use.” So far, county officials have received three responses to their RFP, but they declined to discuss the specifics of the proposals.

The proposals will be discussed when members of the Lane County facilities committee meet Jan. 7. The committee includes Lane County commissioners Jay Bozievich and Faye Stewart.

County officials previously expressed a desire to lease the property rather than sell it. In the RFP, they said they would be willing to 鈥渃onsider public-private financing options鈥� with a developer. However, they said they are not interested in spending a lot of county money on development work.

鈥淟ane County would like to have the ability to use the property for county purposes at some point in the long term,鈥� reads the RFP. 鈥淟ane County is interested in a project built, managed and maintained to the standards necessary for eventual long-term public use.鈥�

Members of the facilities committee probably will make a recommendation to the Lane County Board of Commissioners. This could be the first time county officials have leased land long-term to a private developer.